Bank loans continued to recover in September on improving economic prospects amid the easing of COVID-19 quarantine restrictions and faster pace of vaccination, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said Friday.
Preliminary data showed that outstanding loans of universal and commercial banks, net of reverse repurchase placements with the BSP, rose 2.7 percent year-on-year in September, faster than the 1.3-percent rise in August.
"The observed increase in outstanding loans of U/KBs reflects the modest recovery in banks’ overall lending attitudes along with improved economic prospects owing to the gradual lifting of pandemic containment measures," the BSP said in a statement.
It said that on a month-on-month seasonally-adjusted basis, outstanding universal and commercial bank loans, net of RRPs, went up by 0.6 percent.
Outstanding loans to residents, net of RRPs, grew 3.2 percent in September from 2.0 percent in the previous month, driven by a recovery in loans for production activities.
Outstanding loans for production activities grew by 4.4 percent in September from 3.1 percent in August, led by the expansion in loans for real estate activities (7.2 percent); information and communication (26.6 percent); financial and insurance activities (6.0 percent); and manufacturing (4.4 percent).
The decline in outstanding loans to other sectors such as agriculture, forestry and fishing (-11.9 percent); activities of households as employers, undifferentiated goods and services (-23.3 percent); and wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (-1.7 percent) softened the overall increase in outstanding loans for production.
Meanwhile, consumer loans to residents fell at a slower rate of 7.8 percent in September from an 8.4-percent decline in August due to the lesser contraction year-on-year in credit card, motor vehicle and salary-based general purpose loans.
Outstanding loans to non-residents declined at a softer rate of 12.0 percent from a decrease of 16.6 percent in August.
Domestic liquidity grew by 8.2 percent year-on-year to about P14.6 trillion in September. This was faster than the 6.9-percent growth posted in August. On a month-on-month seasonally-adjusted basis, M3 increased by 1.3 percent.